


Hope Isn't Lost

by always_ae



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-20
Updated: 2012-11-20
Packaged: 2017-11-19 03:18:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/568479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/always_ae/pseuds/always_ae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU!Narry Niall is Liam’s best friend, and Liam is in a group along with Zayn and Harry. Niall is in love with Harry and throws him an extravagant birthday party. Does Harry catch on?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“But I wish you could be out here to celebrate with us!”_   
_“Harry, enjoy you’re party! We’ll celebrate together at the after party at your apartment.”_ ********  
  


Niall had met Harry through his childhood friend, Liam, three years ago. Liam and Harry were in a singing group with another lad, Zayn.  It really wasn’t a surprise that the trio had become practically an overnight success on X Factor. Not only did their voices sound like perfection, but also their looks easily made them the hottest tickets in town.

The blonde had easily fallen for not only Harry’s flirty charm, but also his deep caring nature like it was nothing. Of course Niall did what any sensible person would do, and kept it to himself. Although, he was fairly sure Liam had figured it out. If there had been subtle clues before, Niall putting himself in serious debt to throw Harry the biggest nineteenth birthday party London had ever seen was a bit more obvious.

Of course he hadn’t actually told anyone how much he’d spent on the whole thing. It wasn’t hard to figure it was much more than the blonde bartender/guitar player earned in a month or two. He’d rented out one of the hottest clubs for the entire night, had it catered by one of the best restaurants around (and one of Harry’s favorites), commissioned a huge extravagant cake, and hired out the best DJ in the business. He maxed out both his credit cards as well as stayed up for seventy-two hours straight to pick up extra hours to pay for what he couldn’t charge to his credit card. It was going to take him years to pay that off. The smile on Harry’s face was going to be worth it though.

Never mind that Harry’s date for the evening was the girl he’d casually been seeing for the past nine months. He said casual, she said serious. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Isabelle; she just didn’t seem to like Harry more than she liked any other boy that came her way. The only reason she was doing more than flirting was because he was famous. She made Harry happy though, so Niall kept his mouth shut.

“Are you seriously going to work the bar all night?”

Currently Liam was perched on a bar stool while Niall stood atop the bar, hanging neon glow lights for when the party started in a couple hours. “It’s easier that way! I don’t have to pay anyone, and we won’t have to worry about them taking pictures to sell to Sugarscape or something.”

“Fair enough. He’s not going to like that though.”

“I’m sure Izzy will distract him enough when he gets drunk enough to actually try to drag me out from behind the bar.”

“Niall you should really just tell…”

“Don’t. Liam, just don’t.”

“Fine. But I still think you should.”

It wasn’t a question of Harry not liking boys. He’d made it very clear the first time Niall met him that he was pansexual. He loved people for who they were, not gender they were. It was just another thing that had Niall in awe of Harry. He was so open and sure of who he was. Sure, Niall knew he was the blonde Irishman who worked at a bar, played his guitar on the weekends, and had a thing for curly haired brunettes. He just wasn’t as flamboyant about it as Harry. Niall would rather not address anything and let people think what they wanted. He would much rather for everyone just be happy.

Of course, Liam liked to point out that Niall himself wasn’t happy.

Niall chose to ignore this.

The party was in full swing by the time Harry’s car pulled up at eleven. Niall heard the screams of the girls who were camped out front from his place at the bar. He spared himself a moment to watch as the curly haired god walked in, looking simply fuckable in his crisp white shirt, black blazer, and black trousers. Izzy was hanging off his arm, of course sparing no expense to her look either. She was decked out in a short navy blue sequined dress that made her blue eyes and long blonde hair perfection obvious to every person in the room. Niall forced himself to go back to mixing drinks. Anything to make Harry happy.

The blonde was in his element, taking orders and making drinks, flirting here and there, laying it on thick when he knew it would get him a bigger tip at the end of the night. Hopefully he could pick up enough in tips to pay off some of the debt he’d built up planning this party. He was moving methodically when Zayn popped up out of practically no-where, grinning at Niall as he leaned half way over the bar throwing Nialler off.

“Liam told me what you did.”

Niall’s eyes got big in confusion, “what did I do?”

Zayn’s grin at the boy was unnerving. It was like he was looking past the blonde’s happy go lucky nature to see how he really felt. “You rented out this place, hired the caterer and the DJ.”

“Yeah?”  
“I was a DJ once upon a time. I know how much it costs. Not to mention you had to pay for all this alcohol. How much in debt are you?”  
“Don’t matter,” he said avoiding the question mixing the drinks he knew that Zayn would want, “it’s for Harry.”

“Yeah it is.”

Niall put the two drinks on the bar, “here’s you’re and Perrie’s drinks. Go.”

“Mhm. Avoiding it is only going to make it worse.”

With that, the gorgeous Bradford boy was gone. Niall was able to let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.  Only he didn’t have time to actually catch his breath because Harry had taken Zayn’s the place at the bar.

“NIALLER!”

“Happy birthday mate!!”

“This party is insane! You are the best friend ever. Screw Louis, and you can tell him I said that.”

“I’ll be sure to. Where is he by the way?”

“Probably fucking Eleanor into the back seat of his car before their grand entrance.”

Niall laughed because it was probably true. Louis, Harry’s best friend and ex-flat mate, loved people to know what was his. He was extremely jealous and was not afraid to let you know that. Of course he had no worries with Eleanor. She was more smitten than he was. They made the perfect power couple really. He was a singer as well, and she was on her way to being a big name in Sony’s PR department.

“Are you going to be stuck behind the bar all night?”  
“Yeah. It’s probably better this way though. I can keep all of you lightweights in check.”

“Oi! Just because you’re Irish does not mean we’re all light weights!”

“Compared to me you are.”

Niall had been mixing up Harry a drink as they chatted. When he handed it over, Harry gave him an odd look glancing between the drink and Niall.

“Trust me mate. It’ll knock you on your ass.”

Harry nodded taking a large swallow, instantly making a face by the burn that trailed down the back of his throat, “what the hell?!”

“My own concoction.”

“Mate, I think you’re trying to get me plastered.”

“It’s your nineteenth birthday. Of course I am.”

Harry chuckled before telling the boy to try to escape from behind the bar for a moment if he could. With that, the curly haired birthday boy was making his way back out to the dance floor instantly pulling Izzy into his embrace grinding on her. Her response? Throwing her head back and laughing at him as she pushed her hips back, causing friction. It made Niall’s blood run ice cold.

It was two a.m. by the time Harry wondered back to the bar. People had been buying him drinks all night. There was no doubt he was a wrong step away from blacking out.

“Nialler!!!!”

“Harry, you’re so drunk.”

“Duh!!”

  
“Why don’t you go find Liam and Danielle so you can get your cake and head back to your apartment for the after party?”

“But I wish you could be out here to celebrate with us!”

“Harry, enjoy you’re party! We’ll celebrate together at the after party at your apartment.”

“Cancelled it!”

“Why did you cancel the after party?”

“Cause I wanna shag!”

“Of course you do. Go find Izzy then.”

“Naw, she took off.”  
“Why?”  
Harry shrugged like it was no big deal that the girl he was seeing ditched out of his nineteenth birthday party. “Told her I didn’t want to shag her tonight, so she left.”

“Wh…why don’t you want to shag her?”

“Want something new.”

“Like what?”  
Once again Harry shrugged his shoulders. Niall had to keep is hopes pushed deep down inside. He may want to sleep with someone else, but he was still dating Izzy. Instead he fixed up another drink and handed it to Harry before shooing him away to the small throng of people still left on the dance floor.

As another hour passed, Niall found the less and less people that were there. Every time he looked over at the dance floor, searching out Harry, he found him grinding (or being grinded against) by a boy. Oh. That’s what he was in the mood for. Niall adjusted his blue jeans as they tightened uncomfortably.

“You gotta make a move mate,” Zayn’s voice reached his ears causing Niall to tear his gaze from the curly haired boy. Zayn sat at the bar sipping on his beer that he’d switched to around one that morning. Perrie leaned into his embrace obviously using Zayn to remain standing.

“It’s really better if I don’t.”

Zayn shrugged shaking his head sitting down his empty beer bottle on the counter. “Your loss. If Liam comes looking, me and Perrie are headed home.”

“Night,” Niall said to both of them returning the small wave he received from plastered Perrie. Then he found his gaze traveling to Harry out on the dance floor.

Within the next half hour, the rest of the people began catching cabs heading back to their homes. Niall had shut down the bar and started looking for Harry. Liam and Danielle, both being the most sober people of the night, had left after Niall told them Zayn and Perrie had left. Louis and Eleanor had lasted two hours before they were going at each other in the bathroom before heading back to their flat.

The blonde found Harry alone in one of the booth’s staring at his empty glass. “What happened to getting shagged?”  
“I didn’t like any of the boys left.”

“Did you at least enjoy the party?”  
“It was brilliant Niall.”

“I’m glad you think so. Want me to take you home?”

“Yes please,” the brunette reached out for the blonde to pick him up. It was awkward, Harry being the taller of the two, but Niall managed to pick him up and carry him out to a cab. It was silent as they rode to Harry’s flat, but Niall could feel the other boys’ eyes on him. He tried hard not to flinch under the green gaze, but it made his jeans uncomfortably tight around his hardening member. It felt like forever that Harry was staring at Niall, when in reality it wasn’t but for a couple minutes. The curly haired boy was asleep by the time they reached the complex where his flat was.

Niall paid the driver before picking up the sleeping Harry and maneuvered them up to his flat. Niall pulled out his spare key letting them in, closing the door with his foot as quietly as he could. Following the hallway, Niall laid Harry down on his bed before moving to remove his clothes leaving the birthday boy in just his pants. Niall then moved to the attached bathroom, running some water in a glass and taking the bottle of aspirin, both of which he sat on the beside table for when Harry woke up in the morning. He also left the bathroom door open incase Harry woke up sick.

He was about to head out to his own flat when Harry rolled over looking at Niall through hooded eyes, which Niall assumed was from sleep.

“Stay?”  
Niall couldn’t tell if it was a command or question, but he nodded his head toeing off his shoes and socks while he pulled his shirt over his head. He tugged off his jeans and picked up a pair of Harry’s sleeping bottoms to slip on over his pants before crawling into the bed by Harry. He assumed that the younger boy wanted to be cuddled, but instead he found Harry pulling him into his chest making Harry the “big spoon.”

“Thank you for the party.”

“Of course.”

Their voices were quiet, and Niall could hear his heart beating in his ears. He closed his eyes tightly when he felt Harry’s lips pressed against the top of his head. He was concentrated so hard on keeping his breathing normal that he almost missed Harry’s hand slip underneath the very top of the sleeping bottoms he was wearing.

At first, he kept his mouth shut not sure if Harry had just been trying to get comfortable or what. It was almost as if Harry was waiting to see if Niall would pull away though, because after the longest minute of his life Niall felt the other boys’ hand that was under the lightweight material move further to cover the semi-hard on Niall was currently supporting.

“Harry?” Niall asked quietly turning his head slightly to look back at the birthday boy behind him.

“Shh,” Harry said before connecting their lips together.

Fireworks. Cannonballs. Universe exploding.

The apocalypse could have happened around them and Niall wouldn’t have known.  He groaned into Harry’s lips as the other boy’s palm put sweet pressure on his cock. Harry chuckled, like it was his plan, as he slipped his tongue through the boy’s now parted lips.

Niall finally broke the kiss because his neck was starting to burn from the awkward position they were in. He was sure his lips were just as red and swollen as Harry’s were. It was a sweet sight though. The blue eyes trailed down the taller boy’s body; his jaw dropping open as he saw that Harry’s other hand was buried inside his pants. Instead of being gripped around his own obvious erection, Harry’s hand was reached around preparing himself. Niall watched in awe as Harry’s fingers pushed in and pulled out of his hole.

The blonde rolled over to face Harry finally looking back up at the boy’s face, which was contorted what Niall was sure was pleasure. Finally he let go. Niall leaned forward latching his lips onto one of Harry’s collarbones sucking and biting until he was sure there would be a love bite left in the morning. Following the line of his collarbone, he then went down to Harry’s nipples tweaking them to hardness with his fingers then biting them gently, even giving a small kiss to the two “extra nipples.”

By then Harry had enough and pushed the blonde onto his back and pulled himself to hover over him the best he could. His large hands pushed Niall’s bottoms and pants down just far enough so that Niall’s erection was visible and he could get a good grip on it. With his other hand, he pulled his own pants off before sinking onto Niall without any warning. A sweet hiss escaped Harry’s lips as he bottomed out on top of the boy.

After a moment, Harry began bouncing on Niall the best he could in his intoxicated state. It didn’t matter to the blonde. Harry was plenty tight around him, and the fact it was in fact Harry made it even more pleasurable for him. He should have been embarrassed how short of a time it took for Harry’s bouncing and twisting to have Niall coming inside him with a low moan accompanied by the words “oh god, harry.”

Harry fell to the side groaning at the loss of Niall’s cock from his ass. Niall was not about to let himself off the hook without making sure Harry was pleased. Moving down, Niall took a deep breath before taking Harry in his mouth. A couple of times down his throat, followed by concentrating on just the head, Niall had Harry thrusting into his mouth. He didn’t mind though. Niall took Harry’s grabbing of his hair as a sign that he was coming, and took him deep into his throat suppressing his gag reflex the best he could. Niall swallowed as Harry came in his mouth sending a chill down his back at Harry actually moaning his name.

Afterwards, Niall scooted back up letting Harry wrap his arms back around him. He wondered if the brunette would remember this in the morning. Niall found the thoughts consuming him, and before he knew it, the alarm read nine a.m. He’d been up for twenty-four hours now, and the small alcohol he’d consumed during the party was gone from his system. Sighing he untangled himself from Harry, slipped his clothes back on and headed to his own flat two blocks down, still wondering if Harry would remember.

He showered and put on some fresh clothes before heading out to pick up some lunch for the two of them. It was noon before he made it back to Harry’s apartment. When he opened the front door, he hadn’t expected to find Liam and Louis playing on FIFA in the living room.

“Is Harry up?”  
“Nope,” Louis said not taking his eyes off the game.

Niall nodded heading to the kitchen sitting their food on the counter. So much for figuring out where they were going to go from there. A part of Niall was glad he wasn’t going to have to have that conversation just yet.

He looked up as Harry came out down the hallway, having slipped on just his pants, the glass of water Niall had left for him in his hand.

“What the fuck happened to me last night?”  
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Louis asked nonchalantly.   
“You were daring me to do a body shot off your girlfriend.”

Niall had missed that one.

“Wow, that was at like one this morning,” Louis said finally tearing himself away from the game.

“The rest of the night you pretty much humped every guy on the dance floor after Izzy left,” Niall offered.

“Izzy left?”

“Uh, yeah. You…you said you wanted someone else and so she left.”

“Fuck. I’m gonna pay for that one later.”

“Did you at least get laid?” That came from Louis.

“By the burning sensation going on in my ass, I’m gonna say yes, but I woke up alone just now. Whoever it was certainly wasn’t your typical hook up.”

“Why do you say that?” Liam asked, but he wasn’t looking at Harry. No, his gaze was trained on Niall who was busying himself putting the food out he’d gotten trying not to let the boys’ see the blush on his pale cheeks.

“He left a glass of water and bottle of asprin on my bedside table for me.”  
“Did he?” Liam’s gaze narrowed on Niall who was gnawing on his lower lip.

“Yeah.”  
“But you don’t remember anything about it?”

“Nope. It’s a shame too.”

“Interesting.” Harry and Louis both gave Liam a ‘what the fuck’ look, but shrugged it off. Louis would interrogate him about it later, and Harry was distracted by the food.

“Oh fuck Niall, you’re the best.”

Niall shrugged, still refusing to meet Liam’s stare, “After everything you drank I figured you could use something to help with the hangover.”

“You’re the best friend ever.”

“HEY!” Louis shouted.

“Did you bring me food? No. Therefore you’ve been replaced.”

“You’re going to pay for this Horan.”

Niall rolled his eyes before sitting down beside Harry and digging into his own plate of food. He couldn’t help but glace at the brunette out of his peripheral vision. Would he ever remember? The thought worried Niall enough that he got distracted enough to not hear them saying his name until Harry nudged him with his elbow.

“Huh? What?” he questioned snapping out of his thoughts.

“Zayn wants to do a boys’ night at his place tonight. You in?”

“Oh yeah. ‘Course. Of course. ”

That night Harry, Liam, and Niall piled into Harry’s car heading the couple miles over to Zayn and Perrie’s. They could only assume Perrie was staying with her girlfriends’ while they had their guys night. It had only been three hours and they’d only gone through one case of beer, but Louis already wanted to play some stupid teenage girl sleepover game. Truth or dare.

“Oh come on!!”  
“I’m in.” Zayn’s response surprised them. He was usually the one that took the most convincing. His grin at Niall made it obvious he had something planned for the blonde Irishman. It was enough to have Niall squirming in his seat. Eventually they all agreed. A round into the game, Harry was already completely nude (not that really upset him in any way), Zayn had flushed his pack of fags down the toilet (Liam really needed to give up on getting him to quit), Liam had admitted the kinkiest thing he’d done with Danielle (it even had Louis in awe at Liam), and Louis had prank called Simon Cowell.

It was Zayn’s turn, and his victim was of course Niall. He’d been weighing his options between picking truth or dare. Either way he knew it would have something to do with Harry, and his cover (if you could call it that) would be blown. He knew that by now Zayn and Liam would have shared their suspicions with Louis.

“Truth.”

Zyan’s grinned turned into a full-on smirk. Fuck. “How much did you spend on Harry’s birthday party?”

Niall could already feel the blush covering his face. It wasn’t typical blushing either; no, it was from shame. “About 3700 pounds (6000 dollars).”

“Are you fucking me?” Louis’ voice had gone all high and made Niall wince.

Niall risked looking over at Harry whose jaw had dropped and eyes were wide staring at the blonde. Niall just shrugged his shoulders knowing what they were all thinking. He was insane. It wasn’t a big secret that Niall made monumentally less than all of them, and spending that much on a party was insane for the blonde. It was Harry though. He couldn’t do anything less.

The next thing he knew, he found himself being yanked up from his place on the floor and dragged into the kitchen a little ways down the hall.

“Did you seriously spend 3700 pounds on my birthday?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged stuffing his hands into his pockets like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Nialler! You didn’t need to do that! I would have been happy with just a group of us going out or something.”  
“I know, but you deserved a big party,” he said looking at him, “When Izzy said that you were just planning on staying in, I don’t know, I felt like it was my job to make sure you had the best birthday party ever. I wanted to.”

Harry looked at Niall with a look the blonde had never seen on the brunette. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t have that much time to think about it. Harry had gathered him up in a hug before Niall knew what was happening.

“Thank you Nialler.”

“Anything for you Haz.”

After that they walked back out into the living room, Niall completely oblivious to the glances Harry kept stealing. Liam didn’t though. The game of truth or dare had fizzled out in their absence. Louis was currently trying to get Zayn to admit if he and Perrie had in fact made a sex tape.

“What did you do after the party Niall?” Liam’s question was enough to catch the attention of the other boys and have their gazes turn towards the now blushing blonde.

“I…uh….”

“Oohh did someone get laid?”  
“Who was the lucky girl?”  
“Guy.”

Liam had corrected Harry’s question of who was the lucky girl, which had caused Harry to look at Liam before looking back at Niall questioningly, “guy?”

Niall gnawed on his lower lip again just shrugging at Harry’s question. Niall figuring out he was bi-sexual had been fairly new when he met Harry, so he hadn’t been one to advertise it. Then, it had never really come up. “Yeah.”

“Good on you mate!” Louis said slapping Niall on the back jarringly hard, in true Louis fashion. Niall was glad the conversation dropped there and moved back to Louis interrogating Zayn about a possible sex tape. Liam pouted, his question not exactly going where he’d wanted it. Niall could definitely feel Harry staring unwaveringly at him now. He wondered if Harry had started to remember, but he pushed the thoughts away. He couldn’t deal with that again. He had already lost one night’s sleep wondering about it; he couldn’t lose another.

Finally at one in the morning, Niall bid the boys goodnight and wondered up to one of the guest rooms stripping down to his pants before climbing into the bed.  As soon as his head hit the pillow, Niall was out like a light.

When he eventually woke up the next morning, even though the sun was still blocked out by the black curtain, he knew that it was much later than he usually woke up. Hanging half way off the bed, he reached down digging through his small pile of clothes looking for his phone.

11:45

It was almost lunch time, and it really surprised him that it wasn’t later in the afternoon after staying up for over thirty six hours. Eventually, another fifteen minutes later, he dragged himself out of the bed and headed towards the living room. The blonde was a surprised that none of the other boys were occupying the living room or the kitchen when he wondered in.

Making himself at home, like the boys always did, he began searching through the cabinets and fridge trying to find something to eat. "How the fuck does they not have anything to eat?"

A deep chuckle came from behind the boy causing him to jerk his head around. Standing in the doorway looking like morning perfection was Harry, hair messier than usual and eyes glazed over with sleep still.

"What time did you guys finally go to bed?" he asked as he went back to searching for something to eat.

"Not long after you, probably around two," Harry commented just as Niall found a box of Cheerios that looked edible. He was pulling out two bowls as Harry continued, "I stopped by your room to chat but you were already out cold. I'm not done talking to you about my birthday party."

Niall was glad his back was to Harry as he poured them both a bowl of cereal. It gave him a second to remind himself to not do anything stupid with his hopes or what he says. Turning around he put the bowls on the island before sitting in one of the stools before shrugging his shoulders, "Don't know what else to say Haz."

"Why'd you do it, Ni?"

"You're one of my best friends."

"But you'd never do something do extravagant for Liam, and you've been close to him for longer than you've even known me."

"Well, let's face it, you're more of a flashy guy than Liam," Niall remained calm as he focused on his cereal and every bite. He could feel Harry move to sit across from him taking the other bowl.

"But still."

"Still what?" He was sure which mistake was worse, continuing the conversation when he could have easily let it drop or looking up at Harry when he spoke. Harry's gaze was fixed on the blonde, and those green eyes would do anybody in. His eyes never left Niall as he ate on the cereal, his tongue sticking out to anticipate every bite.

Luckily Zayn saved him, entering the room noisily causing Harry to look away, and Niall was able to let out the breath he'd been subconsciously holding. He’d been doing that a lot lately.

Zayn mumbled something as he pulled out his own bowl, adding Cheerios and milk still grumbling.

“Out of cigarettes?” Harry asked smirking at him.

“Fuck you.”

Niall and Harry chuckled knowing that Zayn was vividly recalling flushing his pack down the toilet the night before. Both boys were glad they weren’t Liam that morning who was on the receiving end of a death stare when he came in through the garage door.

“Did you seriously go running this morning?” Harry asked, mouth full of Cheerios.

“I go running every morning,” Liam said moving to sit by Niall, smart enough to avoid Zayn as much as he could.

By the time Louis joined them, they were all discussing what they were going to do that day. Liam wanted to spend the day outside. Zayn didn’t give a shit as long as he could go to the quick-mart to get more cigarettes. Louis wanted to go to the fair or somewhere with a lot of people. Niall didn’t care as long as they did it soon. He had to be at work at eight that night. Harry had been oddly quiet.

“I’m breaking it off with Izzy.”

That stopped the conversation dead. The other four boys stared at him like he’d grown an extra head. Louis was usually the one that said things that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. Then there was the fact he said he was breaking it off with Izzy. It all just seemed out of the blue.

“Why?” Liam was the only one to voice what they were all thinking.

“I don’t know. After Niall told me Izzy left and I didn’t want to be with her after my party, it got me thinking,” he said shrugging like it was the most casual thing in the world. “I just don’t feel like there’s that passion between us anymore. She wasn’t upset to leave, am I right?”

“Uh, no, no she wasn’t upset,” Zayn said remembering her leaving.

“See, the relationship has run it’s course.”

Niall couldn’t take his eyes off Harry, who was seated across from him, nor could he close his jaw that was still dropped in shock. He could feel Liam looking at him, but he chose to ignore it for the time being. Harry was breaking it off with Izzy. Maybe, all hope wasn’t lost?

 


	2. Hope Isn't Lost (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU!Narry It’s after Harrys’ birthday, and everything comes out in the open for Niall. What’s more important, their friendship or his feelings?

It had been a couple days since Harry’s birthday party and the boys’ night in at Zayn’s. Niall nor any of the other boys had heard from Harry since. Although, Niall was pretty sure Louis had and was just keeping his mouth shut on account Harry threatened him if he didn’t. They knew he’d broken things off with Izzy because all of a sudden the tabloids had intimate pictures of them two accompanying scandalous break-up rumors.  
Sugarscape’s were the best though. Niall enjoyed reading them because they varied from cheating to space aliens to being kicked out of Italy. However, every one of Sugarscape’s stories made Izzy to look out like the bad guy.

  
Niall knew it was neither of their fault, but he still felt bad. If he hadn’t opened his mouth about Izzy leaving during Harry’s birthday party, Harry wouldn’t have started doubting the relationship. He didn’t feel that guilty though. She hadn’t really helped the situation, and if selling pictures of them was a retaliation of the break up, he really didn’t feel guilty.

  
Of course, Niall hadn’t really had much of a chance to see Harry even if he wanted to. Ever since, he’d been working almost non-stop. He played guitar two record studios, just as a backup or recording guitarist. Then he went into his bartending job at eight pm and would work until close which varied from one am to four am depending on the day.

  
It was Thursday which meant it was ‘Ladies Night’. That meant most of their patrons would be women and sad dorky single guys who were hoping to pick up a girl once she’d ingested a good many of their ladies-night-special shots. The blonde was planning to lay it on thick for the females and attempt to give some of the guys advice, hopefully increasing his tips.

He had to pay off those debts.  
It had still been worth it though.

  
The blonde moved to the right side of the bar where a new group of people had pushed their way to the front, but his eyes hadn’t left the brunette he’d just been flirting with. She had light brown hair, but it was some of the curliest hair he had seen. Maybe she would give him more than a tip.

  
“What can I get ya?”

  
“A real reason.”

  
“I don’t know that....Harry!” He had turned to tell the bloke he had no idea what the fuck a “real reason” was, only to come face to face with the boy he’d never be able to stop thinking about.

  
“When you do get a break?”

  
“Uh,” Niall glanced up at the clock on the back wall of the bar. He usually didn’t take breaks because that was fifteen minutes that he would be out tips. This was Harry though, he couldn’t say no. The clock read 11:03. “Midnight.”

  
He wasn’t sure if Harry would stick around until then, but their third wouldn’t be in until then. Andy was always late, but he was so charismatic that you couldn’t be mad at him for long.

  
“I’ll wait then,” Harry said taking a seat at the bar.

  
Niall nodded getting him a beer that he nursed for the entire hour.

  
The blonde kept on working like normal, not trying to dial down the flirting or anything. He may want to be Harry’s, but he had huge debt to pay off. He watched as random girls would come up to Harry and flirt, some even asking for a picture or autograph. Harry always obliged with a smile, never fake either. Something else that Niall admired him for. He was always willing to do anything for the groups’ fans. Hell, even a couple guys came up and shook his hand. He understood that no one could deny Harry’s natural magnetic pull.

  
At midnight, Andy had been there for about twenty minutes, but Niall still waited. A part of him wanted to see if Harry was really going to wait an hour to talk with him. He was still in that same seat though. Niall motioned to Andy and Caroline that he was taking a fifteen before he walked through the door behind the bar, maneuvering around the boxes of alcohol they had piled up in the hall, and through the door leading out to the main floor. He used the walk to clear his thoughts and mentally prepare for this.

  
This was just him and Harry hanging out, nothing new. They did this plenty of times before. It wasn’t like they only hung out whenever it was the five of them, or four or three. He and Harry had hung out just the two of them plenty of times. Granted that was before they slept together and only one of them could remember.

  
“Wanna go upstairs?”

  
Harry nodded and followed Niall upstairs where most of the booths were located and they could actually talk without screaming over the music.

  
“What’s up?”

  
“Louis, Liam, and Zayn said I needed to talk to you.”

  
“Of course they did,” he said looking at the wall vowing to kill them the next time he saw them.

  
“I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

  
Niall remained quiet, not really sure what to say and instead waiting for Harry to continue. He at least pulled his gaze from the wall back to Harry so the boy would know that he was listening.

  
“Niall, why did you throw me that party? Really?”

  
“I don’t know Harry. I mean, I care alot about  you, you’re one of my best friends. When Izzy said you weren’t planning anything, it made me sad,” Niall continued, ”I’ve had my share of lousy birthdays, and you deserve an amazing nineteenth.”

  
“But spending that much money?”

  
“Whatever it took.”

  
“Nialler, you would never have spent that on Liam, and you’d give up your lunch for that boy. That says a lot,” Niall couldn’t help but chuckle nodding his agreement. “Why did you spend that much?”

  
“Because it’s you Harry.”

  
There was no coming back. Niall knew they’d reached that point, the other boys had made sure of that. Harry wasn’t going to back down until Niall gave him an answer he saw as acceptable, and Niall had no answer but the truth that he could think of. “And I like you. A lot.”

  
“I know.”

  
Niall couldn’t help but wince at Harry’s words. He hadn’t been expecting that, and honestly, he couldn’t deal with it. “Well then I don’t know why you needed me to confirm it. I’ll see you later. My breaks over.”

  
He couldn’t deal with it, so like any guy, he left. The blonde was the stairs, before Harry would even have a chance to climb out of the booth. He headed straight for the bar, blocking out everything. He didn’t care if Harry called after him or not. Give him a couple days, then he’d be able to act like nothing happened. They could be friends again, and forget about this whole thing.

  
Only, Harry wasn’t having any of it. He had taken the seat back at the end of the bar. Niall ignored his presence the best he could, going back to flirting with the brunette girl from earlier. It really didn’t help the situation since she was pretty much a female Harry despite her hazel eyes. If he had taken her home, all he would be able to focus on was her eyes weren’t piercingly green like Harry’s. It was sad.

  
When it looked like it would only be about half an hour before they did last call, Niall told Caroline that he wasn’t feeling well. She told him to head on home, the two of them could handle close. Niall thanked her and slipped out the door. He felt like a pathetic loser ditching Harry at the bar like he did, but he didn’t want to deal with it. Not tonight. So instead he went out the back door to his car and headed to his flat.

  
He wondered how long it would take Harry to realize he left and wasn’t coming back.

  
He wondered if things would ever be the same between them again.

  
He wondered how much of the alcohol left over from the party had made it back to his flat.

  
Upon entering his flat, he went straight for the bottles sitting beside the boxes of decorations from the party. He’d gone back the Monday after the party to pick up the stuff, which they had packed neatly in boxes. He was surprised they didn’t keep the alcohol for themselves, but he figured that there was some legal issues if they had.

  
“Fucking hallelujah,” he mumbled as he found a bottle of whiskey that had barely been touched. Niall couldn’t even bother with a glass. Instead he just sat on the small sofa in front of his television and drank straight from the bottle as he tried to pay attention to the telly as he flipped channels. It was three in the morning; of course nothing was on.

  
He’d gotten through about a third of what was left in the bottle when he heard his front door being unlocked. All the boys’ had a key to his apartment, so it wasn’t as alarming as it probably should have been. He had a horrible feeling in his gut though; he knew who was about to come through that door.

  
Sure enough, in walked Harry Styles in his skinny jeans and white tee smelling like a bar filled with alcohol and smoke, same as Niall. It smelt a lot better on Harry that it did him.

  
“You left.”

  
“Yep.”

  
“Like a pussy.”

“Yep.”

  
“Gimme that,” Harry said reaching out and snatching the bottle away from Niall before collapsing on the sofa next to him. Niall was extremely aware of Harry’s leg being pressed right up against his, and there not being much other space between the two. He turned to look at Harry, inebriated enough to not be embarrassed or nervous.

  
“Why are you here Harry?”

  
“I wasn’t done talking.”

  
“I told you I liked you, you said you know, you don’t feel the same, yeah?”

  
“Yeah...”

  
“So there’s nothing else to discuss.”

  
“Yes there is,” Harry insisted taking a drink of the whiskey before sitting it down on the coffee table before turning his body to completely face Niall. “I never thought of you that way, the same that I never thought of Louis or Liam or Zayn that way. You’re one of my best mates so I never gave myself a chance to think that way. I didn’t know until Zayn got you to tell us how much you spent on my birthday. But I want to know, how long?”

  
Niall thought back trying to pinpoint an exact date, but he couldn’t. “Not sure, but for at least a year if not the first time I met ya.”

  
“Why did you never say anything?”

  
Again, Niall shrugged trying to keep this from being a big deal despite the fact he knew it was huge. “At first I was still dealing with the fact I was bisexual. Then I was too nervous, and by the time we became as close as we are and I felt comfortable telling you, you were with Izzy.”

  
“I’m sorry I never thought of you that way Ni.”

  
“Don’t say that Harry.”

  
“But I am! I wish that I had because then I’d know how I felt and I would be able to give you something...”

  
“YOU HAVE THOUGHT OF ME THAT WAY,” Niall wasn’t really sure where the anger or frustration came from, but the more Harry went on the more it bubbled up. “Your birthday? The guy that you took home? That was me.”

  
With that Niall was up and snatching the bottle of whiskey off the table. He walked around the table towards the kitchen needing to get the energy that had started to build out of his system.

  
Harry was being oddly quiet, and Niall couldn’t bring himself to look back at the other lad. Was he finally remembering? Was he mortified that he had sex with Niall? Did he regret it even if he couldn’t remember it? The questions made Niall take a large drink from the bottle then wiping the residue off his mouth with the back of his hand. Fuck, this made him even more nerve-wrecked than before. Why did he have to open his big mouth?

  
A minute passed. Then five minutes passed. Then ten. Finally after fifteen minutes and another fourth of the whiskey, Niall looked over at the other boy. Harry hadn’t moved from the couch. Instead he was staring either at the floor or his hands, Niall couldn’t tell, deep in thought. He had been around Harry to know when he was hanging on tightly to a train of thought. A part of him didn’t want to know what Harry was thinking so hard about, but he knew the general idea of what was going through his mind. He was going to find out whether he wanted to or not.  
Niall moved back to the small sofa, sitting as far from Harry as he could. Although he did reach his arm out offering the whiskey to Harry, which Harry accepted taking a drink out of the bottle. Niall watched as the other lad held the bottle in-between his legs still gazing down at the ground.  
He couldn’t stand it. He was fidgeting in his seat. “I’m going to bed. Feel free to crash on the futon,” the blonde said before pushing himself off the bed and heading through the door that lead into his bedroom. Like every other night, he stripped down to his pants, leaving his clothes in a pile on the floor, and crawled into his bed. He didn’t fall asleep instantly like he’d hoped. No, his thoughts were still on the curly haired boy sitting in his living room.

  
The alarm blared six hours later at ten a.m. Niall turned it off pulling himself out of the bed. He never had a problem getting out of bed in the morning. He always wanted food which fueled him to get out of the bed and to the kitchen as quickly as possible. His morning routine was so automatic that he really didn’t think about it as he climbed out of bed and headed straight for the kitchen, still just in his pants.  
He stopped halfway to the kitchen area of his small apartment. There on the island that separated the “kitchen” from the “living room” sat a brown bag that was emitting the most wonderful smells. He knew that smell. It was his favorite breakfast foods from the bakery down the way. His other senses were working by then, and he could hear the shower running. Everything that happened the night before came crashing down around his ears. He glanced at the futon, but it looked exactly the same as it had the night before. Harry hadn’t stayed.  
Niall figured that Haz headed to his own flat not long after he’d gone to bed. Probably texting or calling Lou who in turn texted Zayn and Liam. Li most likely picked up the food during his morning run and brought it to his apartment before deciding Niall couldn’t be alone today and hopped in his shower.

Ni sat on one of the two stools at the island, pulling the food out of the bag. He wasn’t about to wait on Liam to get out of the shower.

Okay, so there was that little voice in Niall’s head that wanted to torture him, saying what if that was Harry. What if he’d stayed up all night thinking about what had happened between the two of them? Then he’d gone out to get them breakfast so they could talk some more. All of the boys had clothes that had gotten left here over the years so it wasn’t implausible.

The shower shut off and there was shuffling around the bathroom, but Niall didn’t move. He just munched on the pastry in his hand and listened. Finally the sound of the door opening reached his ears followed by a pause.

“Morning.”

Damn, “morning,” he replied through his mouth full of pastry.

“You want pleasantries or you gonna tell me what happened?” By the time he finished his sentence, Liam had made his way around the island to be face to face with Niall.

“Harry confronted me, I fessed up. Things have gone to shit. Anything else?”  
“Yeah, something else happened. Harry’s at Louis’ freaking out and not even Louis can figure out what he’s saying half the time.”  
“I...I told him about after his birthday party.”

“So it was you that he slept with.”

“Yeah,” Niall shoved the rest of the pastry in his mouth so he couldn’t continue. Liam opened the package of fresh fruit and popped a grape into his mouth. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Niall, but he did at least let him finish his pastry.

“You okay?”  
“I don’t know, I’m trying really hard not to think too much about it.”  
“You know you’re going to have to deal with it and talk to Harry again...eventually anyway.”  
“I know.”

“He’s going to beat himself up over this until you do.”

Niall sighed. He wasn’t surprised because that’s just who Harry was. He felt bad about everything even if it wasn’t his fault. Niall remembered when one of the boys’ younger fans had lost their cat who she’d wanted to show Harry because she’d named it Hazza. Harry had almost cried because he felt so bad. Zayn had to talk him out of buying the girl another cat. It was another thing that Niall loved about Harry.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. I have to be at the studio at one today, otherwise I’d go today.”

Liam still didn’t tear his eyes away from Niall. He knew that Li was done worrying about Harry and was worried about Niall now. The only reason he’d been more worried about Haz was because he was the one in a panic at the current moment.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay to talk to him tomorrow?”  
“Yeah. I’ll have all day today to think about what I can say to convince him it’s alright.”

“Is it alright though?”

“It’s been alright for the past year. I think I can handle it for another one.”  
“Niall...”

“Don’t. I’m fine. Really. You guys are acting like it’s the first time someone has ever liked someone and not been liked back. Seriously, give it time and we’ll be laughing at this one day.” Niall wasn’t sure if he believed himself at the moment, but he didn’t think he’d be pining for Harry for the rest of his life. It might feel that way right now, but eventually he’d move on.

“If you say so,” Liam still looked wary. He let it drop though, and Niall was able to steer the conversation to the boys’ plan for the next album. That was sure to get Liam’s mind of everything but his excitement about the album.   
Saturday came all too quickly, and Niall found himself standing outside Harry’s flat. Taking a deep breath, he figured it would be more courteous and knocked on the door. He was a little bit more surprised than he should have been when it was Louis that answered the door. He moved out of the way for Niall to come in.

“He’s still talking in riddles,” Louis informed him quietly before yelling to Harry, “Haz! I’m going out to the store for a bit. Think about what you want for dinner. And no, you can’t eat Niall.”

Harry had come into the room around “what you want” but his gaze had been a “off in the distance” one. When Louis made the comment about eating Niall, Harry’s head had jerked in their direction, only Louis was gone and Harry had lost his train of thought seeing Niall.

“Niall.”  
“Hey Haz.”

“What...what are you doing here?”  
“Liam came to my apartment and said you’re having a panic. Louis couldn’t even figure out what you were saying. I thought coming over here to help was the least I could do.”

“I am so sorr...”

“If you finish that sentence I’ll punch ya.”

Harry pursed his lips together as a sign of his silence. Niall walked past the curly haired boy sitting on his couch motioning Harry to join him. “Harry. You have got to stop this. This is not your fault. Like I was telling Li, it’s not the first time someone has liked someone and not been liked back. It’s not a huge deal. I’ll be fine. I just don’t want it to ruin our friendship...”  
“But Ni...”

“No Harry. You have to promise to me you’ll stop worrying yourself sick about this and just go back to us being mates.”

Harry nodded and Niall smiled at him relaxing back against the couch reaching for the remote to the telly.

“I am sorry that I don’t remember though.”

“Honestly I think I’d be embarrassed more if you did.”

They both chuckled.

After that things went back to normal for the most part. It took a week of hanging out, both with the guys and alone, but they got there. Or at least Niall thought they had. Saturday night rolled around again, and the group found themselves at Nialler’s bar enjoying themselves greatly. Liam was fending off all the guys as Danielle showed off her dancing skills on the floor while Zayn, Perrie, and Eleanor laughed at how cute he was being. Of course Louis was doing the opposite and encouraging it, pushing every good looking guy in Dani’s direction.

Harry danced with anyone who would have him not far from Danielle so he could enjoy the groups’ show as well as himself. Niall shook his head from behind the bar, going back to serving drinks. At around midnight, he finally glanced back at the dance floor to find Harry dancing with a cute blonde girl, but his gaze was focused on Niall. Not disappointed, Niall blushed slightly and turned away.

Around one, Zayn and Perrie left, Perrie having a benefit performance she had to be at Sunday morning. A laughing Dani dragged a pouting Liam out not long after. Eleanor and Louis’ stayed almost as long as Harry. Niall had a sneaky suspicion that Louis’ was still a bit worried about his best mate. It was touching really, if you know, Louis didn’t keep trying to stick his hands’ down Harry’s trousers. Finally, Niall and Andy did last call, and Niall found Harry slumped against the end of the bar apparently extremely pissed.

“Nialler!!”

“Hey Haz.”

“I think I’m drunk.”

“What gave you that idea?”  
“The room is spinning.”

“If you say so,” Niall laughed slinging Harry’s arm over his shoulder, “come on. Let’s get

****you to my car, and I’ll take you home.”  
** **

“NO! Too far away. Let’s just go to your apartment.”

“You sure?”  
“Yes,” Harry’s nodding was so violent Niall had to grab onto him tightly to keep him from falling over.

“Okay okay, no need to face plant the pavement.”

Harry found that much funnier than Niall thought it was.

Finally, Niall got Harry into the passenger's seat of his car and buckled up. He hurried around to get behind the wheel, not sure what Harry would do within the five seconds he was left alone. On the way, Niall kept glancing over at Harry to make sure he was okay, half expecting the lad to fall asleep. However, they pulled into Niall’s parking spot and Harry was already trying to unbuckle himself.

The blonde rolled his eyes walking around the car and opening the door for Harry leaning in to unbuckle the belt for him.

“Harry!” Niall practically shouted jerking away when he felt Harry’s lips against his neck. Harry just grinned at him, so he shook it off and yanked the younger male out of the car and towards the lift.

The ride up was tame, mostly Harry leaning on Niall to keep from falling over.

Once they entered the flat, Niall pushed Harry into the futon mumbling something about getting bedding for the futon out of the closet. By the time he came back, Harry was completely nude which wasn’t surprising except for the fact he wasn’t exactly a hundred percent calm. Niall diverted his eyes though, and started making up the futon. Harry had been grinding against some of the most good looking people in the bar tonight; it couldn’t be that surprising that he had a semi-hard on.

The blonde had barely gotten one corner of the sheets on before he found himself being knocked over onto the still upright futon. “Haz!”  
“What?” Niall looked back finding Harry leaned over smiling at him in attempt to look innocent. Except Harry never looked innocent, and there was also he was currently pulling Nialls’ shoes and socks off before tugging at his jeans.

“What are you doing?”  
“Undressing you.” His tone was a ‘matter-of-fact’ one, like it was no big deal.

“Uh, why?”

“I can’t sleep with you while you’re wearing clothes.”  
“Excuse me?” Niall was sitting up now looking at the other boy like he was insane. They had just gotten their friendship back in tact and now drunkHarry was wanting to sleep with him again.

“Sex, young Nialler,” Harry said tugging at his arm now. “Come into your room. I don’t want to break your futon cause that’ll definitely happen if we do it here. I still can’t make any promises about your bed though.”

Harry was already bounding into Niall’s room so the blonde had no option but to follow him. He had full intention of telling Harry he was not about to sleep with him, again, and that he really just needed to stop and think about this. Of course, Harry had a different idea all together. Niall barely made it through the door before he was shoved up against the wall with Harry’s lips pressed firmly against his.

He can hate himself in the morning.

Niall’s fingers reached up tangling them in Harry’s hair holding his head in the kiss. Harry tried to find a good way to press his body into Niall’s, but found it a bit difficult in their current position with their height differences. Finally, he grabbed the blonde’s hips pulling him up, and Niall took the hint wrapping his legs around him pulling their hips together. Each boy pulled away from the kiss to moan as they felt the pressure and heat coming from each other where they were only separated by Nialls’ jeans and pants.

Harry didn’t give him a chance to pull him back into a kiss, and turned taking the few steps to Niall’s bed depositing the blond there. Harry immediately started unbuttoning Niall’s jeans leaving Niall to pull his shirt over his head. He didn’t bother taking it slow and pulled off Niall’s jeans and pants at the same time.

The curly haired boy let his hands push up Nialls’ thighs, avoiding the one area that Niall wanted him to actually pay attention to. He let his hands follow on up the other’s hips then abs to his nipples which were tweaked and sucked on until Harry was able to line their bodies up. They both sucked in a gasp as their erections settled against each other.  

Leaning down, Harry connected their lips harshly as he rocked his entire body back and forth against Niall’s. After a moment, he let his lips move up to Niall’s ear whispering, “prepare me,” before biting down on the lobe. Niall felt his heart beat increase exponentially as he lifted his fingers to suck on them trying to lube them as best as his silva could. Harry just happened to glance up and see Niall suck his fingers completely into his mouth which caused Harry to groan and increase the speed of his rocking against the other lad.

Niall reached down carefully inserting a finger into Harry’s hole, barely getting the knuckle in. For the next few minutes, Niall slowly worked Harry open before Harry finally pushed him down into the bed.

“Condom?”

“Drawer,” Niall said motioning his head toward the nightstand by his bed.

Harry leaned over grabbing a condom and the bottle of lube out of the drawer quickly. He sat up moving off Niall’s hard-on so that he could put the condom on himself. Harry slowly stroked Niall as he applied the lube over the condom. Niall pulled his gaze away from Harry’s hand firmly stroking his dick, to find Harry’s piercing emerald eyes staring at Niall’s face. When he did, Harry leaned over connecting their lips once more while he rolled them over so that Niall was on top.

Carefully, the blonde positioned himself and slowly began to slide into Harry. This time he found that Harry didn’t break eye contact unlike last time when he could barely keep his eyes open. He held his legs open giving Niall quite a view as he pushed past the tight muscles until he was fully inside Harry.

“Oh fuck, Ni, move.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Niall began to thrust into Harry, twisting and moving, trying to find that perfect angle. It took him a half a dozen or so thrusts until he found Harry’s prostate, and he knew because of the string of obscenities that escaped the other boys’ lips.

Things got pretty messy after that. Niall kept that angle, hitting his prostate every time, and he reached down wrapping his hand around Harry’s hard-on. He twisted and stroked Harry in time with his thrusts.

“Ni...I..I can’t...I’m...”  
“Let go Harry.”

With that Harry came with Nialls’ name on his lips. The tightness around Niall as Harry came caused Niall to follow him. A couple moments later Niall pulled out and pulled the condom off tying it up and throwing it in the wastebasket. He assumed that the other boy would be asleep or waiting for Nialler to fall asleep so that he could sneak out.

He was surprised when instead Harry pulled the boy to him snuggling in his bed whispering in his ear, “I wanted to remember it this time.”

Niall was frozen and ridged in Harry’s arms now. There were so many emotions running through him, and the haze post-sex was still weighing heavily on him.

“Haz?”

“Yes Niall?”

“I...I don’t, understand.”

“I’ve done a lot of thinking over the past week Ni, and I know that I can’t stand to not have you in my life. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered what would be so wrong if i looked at you as more than a friend?”

“I still don’t understand Harry.”

“I may not be where you are Ni, but I definitely like where it’s headed.”

 


End file.
